Karius
Apologies to Thorbjørn Egner.
Hmm. I suspect the reference in todays strip might be way too obscure for the general public, but damnit, I’m pretty pleased with it so I’m posting it anyway. For anyone outside of Scandinavia, the two jolly fellows in the first three panels are Karius and Baktus (a play on the words Caries and Bacteria), from the children’s book released in 1949 written and illustrated by Thorbjørn Egner. These two main characters are “tooth trolls” living inside a boys mouth, often feasting on fine bread with syrup, and at their happiest when the boy doesn’t bother to brush his teeth. According to Wikipedia, an English translation was released in 1986, with no indication about its popularity, but at least here in Norway the book is extremely well known, and imprinted in pretty much everyones minds from an early age here as the pedagogical device for dental care.
I’m guessing the above explanation will prove to be helpful to most readers, but I would love to be proven wrong! Please let me know if you recognize the reference, especially if you live far away from Scandinavia. And what do I know, maybe even the strip is vaguely amusing even if you have no idea who these guys are?
Oh, and the real book doesn’t end quite as voilent as my alternate version…
Very good
Thanks! Keep on reading! A sequel/prequel of some sort to this strip might even appear here at some time…
hahahahahah! I love this comic strip!!!! (especially because I’m a dentist) you HAVE to do a sequel/prequel of this!!!! :)
I have this book! (though I live in southern california)
@alecho – Ah yes, it’s on its way (meaning; it’s finished), although it may not be posted for a while.
@viki – That’s awesome to hear! As a follow-up, Karius and Baktus were also made into a puppet movie form, which probably is just as well known here as the book. The first act is on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOJo73IGpfE
I got the carries but didn’t know about the Scandinavian connection.
I like what I’ve seen so far in your comic, keep it up.
Yeah it’s the same in Iceland, every single Icelandic child knows these fellows.
Ah, cool to know. I knew they are known in the rest of Scandinavia to some degree, but had no idea if they have quite the same impact as in Norway.
I love this!!!
my mum’s from norway but i live in northern ireland and i’ve been brought up on this book! .. i always felt so sorry for those two though!!
great post, keep up the good work!
They are very popular in Sweden too.
I HATE that bloody book, it’s the reason I refused to brush my teeths when I was a child (and have to pay for it now) I didn’t want to hurt the Tooth-trolls. =)
I’m from Iceland as well, this strip sure brought back memories. Used to love that sad song of theirs.
It’s so good to see that I’m not the only one who felt sincerely sorry for Karius and Baktus! I hated brushing my teeth, knowing the result would be leaving these two cute little fellows homeless, without food, and eventually marooned on a raft somewhere in the ocean. I assume Egner tried showing them as bad guys with the whole «let’s poke Jens where it hurts the most» strategy, but they’re just too darn cute. What child growing up with Egner’s books would want to hurt these poor little creatures?
Ha! Brilliant!
Actually, these characters are famous worldwide. I mean, I know them, and I’m from Israel. It got translated to Hebrew and everything. Anyway, love your comics! You’re more than welcome to check out ours. There are only a few strips at the moment, but damn it, some day there’ll be more.
Oh, there’s also music. Because like, we’re a band. But screw that. Comics!
well, i didnt read your subscript, but i still got the basic idea from the comic itself, so good job
its nice to finally see a webcomic made by a guy from scandinavia it makes it easier for me to understand the references (because im danish)
I never heard of these guys before, but got the joke allmost immediately. In Dutch (I’m from the Netherlands) Karius sounds a lot like caries. So this works in other languages as well. Never saw an ad for “caries-garottes” though… :-)
Awesome!
Funny, I know those two and I’m from Germany :D
Also, I got some of your word plays from earlier comics…languages must be related or something…
Yup, I can confirm that Karius and Baktus are (or at least were!) well-known in Germany – I used to have a cassette tape featuring them when I was little, and I loved it. ;)
Great strip, too, BTW! It’s almost like out of PBF.
My mom used to tell me that cavity trolls would destroy my teeth if I didn’t brush them. So, this comic had the desired effect.
I’m from Russia, and I’ve read this, when I was a child, but I didn’t remember the reference (or their names) until I read the description (ok, I surely messed up the tences in this one).
Of course I know Karius and Baktus. I am from Germany. Loved the radio play of them.
Never heard of the characters or the book, but I guessed that “Karius” was a play on “caries” and really enjoyed the comic!
Well here in Bulgaria I vaguely remember watching a play in Kindergarten based on this :)
what a coincidence my mom handed me some dental floss as i random and this came up
When I was a kid my mom showed me the Karius and Bactus video so I would brush my teeth. However after watching it, I refused to brush because I felt bad for kicking Karius and Bactus out of their home…. so that kinda backfired.
Really? I always thought you created those two. I have seen them already in here. I’m from Venezuela so I couldn’t be farther from Scandinavia.
Hahahahha,
En venn av meg anbefalte denne serien. Jeg skjønner hvorfor.